|| CF Correspondent ||

On the 18 th of June 2005 Bangladesh secured a famous victory in Cardiff against Ricky Ponting’s all-conquering Australian side, last Saturday the same heroics couldn’t be repeated as England clinically beat Bangladesh and, in the process, showed why they are favourites to lift the World Cup.

Despite an excellent record against England at World Cup tournaments, Bangladesh were unable to match their feats from Chittagong in 2011 and Adelaide in 2015, instead, England ran out comfortable winners with a 106 run victory. An unsurprising result has given the relative strengths of both teams, however, following a superb victory against South Africa and a narrow loss against New Zealand, players and fans alike were justifiably optimistic going into the game. England’s loss against Pakistan added to the sense of the World Cup hosts being far from invincible and highlighted their longstanding vulnerability against quality spin bowling.

In a broader context, the cricket field is the only place where these two nations, bound by centuries of shared history, can compete without the outcome is certain. In every socio-economic sphere, England’s vast resources trump those of Bangladesh, so it’s something of a surprise and a cause for celebration amongst fans that cricket is contested so keenly between the two countries. The fact that they are relative newcomers to international cricket is something that’s often overlooked by critics, particularly those who are conditioned to only accept immediate results in the world of instant gratification that we live in.

To Bat or Not to Bat?

On winning the toss, skipper Mashrafe had the seemingly straight forward decision to insert the opposition on a green looking wicket in cloudy and cool conditions. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing, and Mashrafe admitted after the game that if he was able to go back in time, he would reverse his decision. Conceding 386 runs after winning the toss and choosing to bowl, initially looked like a poor judgement from the captain. The fact that Morgan also agreed he would take the bowling option indicated that the correct call was made. The real issue was Bangladesh’s bowling attack being unable to take advantage of whatever early assistance the wicket offered. 

Similarly, asking Shakib to open the bowling with a long spell, resulting in a scarcity of overs available to him during the middle phase of the game when his bowling is at its most effective, could also be viewed as bad planning. The reality was that Mashrafe had decided that his most dependable bowler was also the likeliest to make a much needed early breakthrough, this itself showed a distinct lack of faith in the rest of the attack.

Given England’s dominance with both bat and ball, it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that whatever Mashrafe’s decision before the start of play, it impacts on the outcome was minimal.

A Tale of Two Centuries

Jason Roy’s man of the match winning innings of 153 runs off 121 balls began with caution, it’s difficult to fathom but England’s score was only 9 runs after 4 overs, after playing himself in he remained a nuisance until the 35th over, he was dismissed looking to press the accelerator when a double hundred was there for the taking. Roy had much to prove going into the game after a lacklustre performance against Pakistan, dropping a simple catch and failing with the bat, revealingly the Pakistan fans had managed to visibly annoy him and other England players while in the field. Although there were pockets of vocal support for Bangladesh, their numbers were nowhere near those who had turned out at the previous game at the Oval, the performance of the team allowing for only sporadic cheering.

In reply to such a mammoth total, Bangladesh needed a fast start, the pace and discipline of the England attack didn’t allow that to happen. Tamim’s innings was ponderous, injury has played a part in his disappointing World Cup so far and the collective failure of the openers has meant an over-reliance on Shakib and Mushifiqur rescuing the innings. They both came together in the 12th over with a huge task at hand, during their 106 run partnership the possibility of an outrageous victory briefly flickered. 

Shakib’s 121 runs off 119 balls was a continuation of the fine form he’s shown with the bat during this World Cup, it is his third consecutive score over 50. His style of batting perhaps isn’t the most pleasing on the eye, the legside and in particular, midwicket being a strong scoring area, but his sheer application and experience means that runs are more often than not accumulated. He displayed his fondness for the sweep shot against Rashid and adopted various deflections behind the wicket against the pace attack. Apart from the stand with Mushifiqur, there was a dearth of support to mount a serious challenge on England’s total.